Topic: Let's make mining sustainable - page 2. (Read 900 times)

Of course, we are making our surrounding worsen day by day, by our daily activities environment is getting affected and this type of natural disaster has occurred now and then,  in recent time, International politics also getting involved to make reduced the environmental impact, but individual awareness is must needed for this purpose, it's very sad to see that we are still not aware of this effect so it's high time to make our thinking level should be changed, if we are not like this then nothing would be sustained for the future, so I agree with your proposal which is the present demand for our ecological aspect.

there are now sustainable mining forms that people do like mining using the wind , water , heat and other forms of energy  .

miners themselves are the ones that are responsible to do this kind of practice but for us that arent miners all we can do is to encourage miners to do this kind of mining instead of the traditional ones as it causes harm to the environment   .

It absolutely isn't, and not just from an energy point of view. Everything from processed foods to processed plastics. We consume far too much and throw most of it away. We spend hours pumping out exhaust fumes stuck in traffic commuting to and from jobs so we can buy more unnecessary junk which will end up in a landfill.

And you can literally run a PoW network off of ASCIs connected to solar or hydro only. In fact, the most up to date data we have suggest that up to three quarters of bitcoin mining energy is from renewable sources, which is about four times higher than the global average of renewable energy use. (Source: https://coinsharesgroup.com/assets/resources/Research/bitcoin-mining-network-december-2019.pdf)

Thanks for bringing this topic. Honestly, this hasn't come to my mind and all I know is how amazing mining rigs are. Somehow this thread is like an eye-opener to everyone not just for miners but for people like me also.
I really hope we could do something about this so we can help the Mother Earth not destroy it.

what? Is bitcoin mining affecting the environment? I have never thought about this and actually it is not related. Mining bitcoin is done through GPUs and large mining factories both have their own areas and are air-conditioned to prevent rising temperatures in the factory. In addition, it does not cause dust or increase the surrounding temperature, because if it rises too high, the factory will burn first. In fact, we should be environmentally conscious from stopping using plastics and being more concerned about trees, and being a volunteer to plant forests. But for bitcoin mining is to create money, and only money can mobilize people to plant trees.

Of course shifting into PoS is not enough to solve this problem. Other projects remain with PoW. But the reality is that there is no single solution to this. And it does not take a single project alone to effectively get away from the possible effects of mining to our climate and our environment. But at least it lessens instead of increases the emission of green house gases. Every initiative counts. Every step toward the use of renewable energy and away from the opposite is a progress worth appreciating.

While I agree that everyone should do their part in making all things sustainable and eco-friendly, I think that putting the blame solely on bitcoin mining for what's happening on our climate isn't fair at all. We know that 65% of mining bitcoin comes from China (at least once, though), and the whole of the bitcoin network consumed 30-terawatt hours of power in 2017, but this doesn't mean that all of it came from fossil fuels. Also to put that into perspective, in 2016 alone we managed to consume 21-petawatt hour of electricity, and out of that number, the 30-terawatt hour consumption of bitcoin is a mere 0.14%, and it's utterly ridiculous how much stones are being thrown at bitcoin mining when the banking sector itself uses more power.

As for CO2 emissions, we have been doing horrendous on that area, but certainly not far-off from historical figures even as far back as 800,000 years ago. Interglacial periods sits our asses off at 300 ppm of CO2 in the air at its warmest, causing a 0.5-1.1 degree Celsius increase on global average temperature. Take note, this is way even before humans existed; only volcanoes, oceans and other natural players were the main factors as to why CO2 concentration on the air was rising.



While even up to this point we might be one of the largest artificial contributors of CO2 in the atmosphere, nothing beats land and ocean CO2 reservoirs in contributing to the CO2 in the air--though I'm not saying this as a justification of our improper use of the natural resources around us. I'm just saying that there are other things way beyond human activity that even the best of our technology cannot control. We cannot control earth's axial tilt, precession change and eccentricity, can we? That's one factor missing on global climate reports as of late, which baffles me since it's a scientific fact that the the Milankovitch Cycles is an observed, recognized and a proven cycle due to the abundance of data that we have here on earth.



Just like looking at a trading graph, the cycles match that of what we see on each of its heating and cooling periods (stages of glaciation), hinting towards a possibility that we are actually heading towards our heating phase of the cycle. Why aren't we considering this possibility at all?

Anyhow, we might not have the means to control our own planet's motion which is synced with the sun's, but the least we can do is mitigate the effects of it by reducing our CO2 emissions, and it starts off with using clean energy, if possible, and reducing our own use of excess electricity as well. Recycling also helps, plus planting some trees every now and then which I think should be mandatory per person.

The mining sector of bitcoin has been aging pretty well since people are actually shifting from coal-based energy sources to natural ones, just like what they have in Iceland and some provinces in China. Vilifying other sectors of the economy doesn't help at all if one does not even tend to his/her own garden aptly.

Indeed most people able, should plant a tree. Not just one, many, make it an activity and do it from time to time. Just make sure to use a local species, don't want to make the problem worse.

You could argue modern lifestyle is making this irreversible. The weather patterns are changing worldwide, and solutions are not coming from the top, the politicians are worthless.

I'm not a fan of donations, for all you know, they might be misused (which is why i warned NOT to give anything for the Amazon). Get involved and plant a tree yourself, how hard can it be? And then do it again, and again, and again. Make it a social activity.

If its close to the place you live, try to take care of it as well.

Truly disappearing Bitcoin won't change things, and as explained before the market itself is solving this issue on its own.

You could also change some habits, reduce, reuse and recycle; cycle to work, invest in renewable: buy a solar panel with a grid tie inverter, etc.

I wonder if modern society is sustainable. Are you willing to change some habits? Americans have a huge problem, they went to live too far away from work, and waste too much commuting. Telecommuting may help. One of the reasons USA is one of the top polluters is their car dependency, while its perfectly fine to live in countries in Europe and Asia, the typical sub-urban American cannot think of living without owning a car, and they even designated a car type for this lifestyle (which happens to be a fuel waster).

Unfortunately China is copying this bad example, what Americans did in the 50ies (the freeways program) has been reproduced in China, complete with the madness car production, as a "means to push the economy". These two countries alone are the most responsible.

Give a satoshi to plant a tree? No, go plant it yourself, you lazy couch potato.

Even if we convert mining into sustainable then I do not think it would have any much of the adverse effect on the environment as there already are a lot of pollutants which are freely being operated without any restrictions. Most common cause can be the pollutants from the residents of the vehicles. Vehicles are on an ascending graph from the time they were created and hence there are thousands of millions of vehicles freely roaming on the roads today.

Can you even imagine how much pollution they might be causing. We have changed the environment and only the human race is responsible for whatever is happening now. But there are few campaigns who are trying to make everything back normal. Let's hope so it happens and we could see our mother earth back as she was in the past.

I commend you being concern on what is happening here in our planet, Climate Change, but you, roasting mining bitcoin is the reason of what happened in Amazon and in Australia is so ridiculous. Climate Change is a very alarming matter that we should all focus to solve, yet the Government seems to ignore this matter and still continuing building stuffs that make climate change even worst.

The ice in the antartic is also a very good example that we should not ignore what is happening in our planet, we are the one who are destroying our own kind slowly.

The means for making mining sustainable are there. Small and large mining facilities can purchase solar, eolian and hydro based energy systems that could save up both on their energy cost and efficiency. The only downside is the initial investment which could maybe ROI faster using that money to buy more equipment.

You cannot just implement a system where the miners who use green energy receive higher rewards or incentives... especially on a decentralised network.

Changing onto PoS will not itself solve this problem. There should be huge projects supporting renewable energy which might include thermal plants, solar panels, windmills, etc in order to create a stable source of energy to run the miners and generate the hashes. This might not cause any global harm to the community no matter how large miners we run on our farm.

This would even be profitable for the individuals running such mining farms as the electricity charges would be 0 in this case. Only they need to manage investing some capital to start using and setting up the renewable sources. We could use the renewable sources continuously without any interaction so why not do so?

Indeed, if only renewable energy is a bit more accessible and rampant then we won't have to worry about mining and the bad implications it brings. hopefully the future at the very least bring good news to cryptocurrency mining as it is one of the most potent cryptoccurency earning methods out there.

I am really agree to this. I am suggesting that the crypto team should put a certain schedule for mining because if some of the members here will continously mining over and over for the longest time with no limit,  as what you have said it will give us hazardous effects. We should be balance in using electricity to avoid casulaties.

Electric vehicles are only greener than gasoline if your country has the infrastructure to support them with green energy. Charging an electric vehicle from an electricity grid which is in turned powered by burning coal only shifts the emissions from your car to the power station. For electric vehicles to be really beneficial, you need to be buying your electricity from renewable sources or generating it yourself.

Exactly. Think of all the cash being printed and reprinted, all the metal being mined for all the coins to be minted, all the armored vehicles moving it around, all the electricity for all banks, the computers, the servers, the ATMs, and so on. Bitcoin is orders of magnitude less than that.

Because it's easier to just complain than actually do something. Bitcoin is a poor target for their anger, though. As I said above, online porn generates over 30 times as much CO₂ as bitcoin, but no one is rallying against PornHub. Dogs have bigger carbon footprints than SUVs, but no one is suggesting we should make dog ownership illegal.

I don't know man. As far as my research goes, the environmental impact of Bitcoin is basically nothing compared to the environmental impact of the cash system. There's already an increasing and improving way for Bitcoin to be mined without causing much to the environment so it won't really matter.

Instead of asking those mining enthusiast to come up a way or a solution to the problem (which I think they are doing already), why don't you do something yourself? Maybe plant a tree or something. Maybe donate to those environmental charities. Because no matter how many rants you make here in the forum but as long there is money, miners will mine they want even if the cost is a slight change in the environment.

Maybe make a movement yourself about helping the environment. I'm sure some of the members here in the forum will be willing to help you.

This was in fact one of the reason why they are discouraged to continue mining business these years, because of the excessive amount of electricity needed for them operate and from my own opinion, requiring mining facilities to have their source of electricity is quite necessary. Especially, to have reserve not specifically to rely all the energy requirements but to help reduce the burning of fossil fuels and carbon by huge electricity companies. In addition, our system could probably adjust in its codes and structures to use different consensus in verifying transactions.

sometimes when talking about the environment then this industry is one of the places that require a lot of energy that should think about the impact of the use of energy with the surrounding environment. may require renewable technology so that the impact on the environment also continues to circulate properly, because excessive use of technology will worsen our environment.

Currently, mining is not profitable in most of the countries except few regions where electricity is cheap and anyway most of the miners have stopped it due to huge loss incurred and I am one of them as we had set up a small mining farm with around 60 GPU but ended up with huge loss which is yet to be recovered. We need some innovative machines for mining as you have described but this is not the reason for climate change.

I think there have already been several steps taken to promote green energy as compared to the use of traditional non-renewable energy. Mining must have also taken steps albeit little by little to start converting into the renewable energy utilization. And others, I only know ETH to be exact, are also shifting to PoS. That must be saving a lot of future emission.